disney junior Archives - Adventure, baby!

My childhood was spent falling in love with Disney movies. I was absolutely obsessed with all of them – starting with The Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, through to the modern ones that came out as I was growing up such as Aladdin and The Lion King. I was 15 when I saw the original Lion King movie, and was obsessed with the music for months (ahem, might have been more like years). When The Lion King stage show came out in my 20s, I saw one of the very first shows in Sydney and cried all over again at the beauty of the music and heartbreaking storyline.

Now I have my own Disney-obsessed kid, who is still too young to watch the original Lion King movie. She is, however the perfect age for the new Disney Junior series that is a spin off from the much loved movie – The Lion Guard.

We were lucky enough to attend the Australian premiere of The Lion Guard, where we watched the first extended episode, called Return Of The Roar. At 45 minutes, the first episode is longer than the following ones will be to introduce the new cast, re-introduce beloved old characters, and set the scene for the next generation of troublesome cubs to take on their own adventures. Simba and Nala have grown up and have cubs of their own, including Kion, who is the star of this new series. Cameos from Pumbaa and Timon also link the old with the new, and bring in a motley crew of brand new animal characters: Bunga, Ono, Fuli and Beshte.

The reason I haven’t shown my four-year-old The Lion King movie yet is I think it’s still too scary for her, but I was confident that a Disney Junior spin off would be age appropriate – and it was. There were moments in the show when I wasn’t sure what direction it would go (the suspense!) and I was relieved that each moment of confrontation was diffused without violence. My very sensitive child agreed at the end that The Lion Guard was great and that she enjoyed it immensely.

While my daughter is not yet able to articulate why she enjoyed it so much beyond she loved the songs and the honey badger, Bunga, I really enjoyed the skillful animation, beautiful music and the themes that emerged: friendship, loyalty, perseverance, bravery and love. Perfect for my little girl to be watching and learning from.

I can’t wait to watch the rest of The Lion Guard when it premieres on the Disney Junior Channel on February 6.

Thanks so much to Disney Australia for inviting us to join The Lion Guard.

Brought to you by Nuffnang and Disney Junior. Book-loving princess and all opinions are my own.

When Cheese finished her 2s program in New York, her teachers gave her the cutest little book called “Read To Your Bunny” by Rosemary Wells. The book is really quite simple, it basically says read to your bunny every night, it’s only 20 minutes, but the most important 20 minutes of the day.

The book and its message comes to mind a lot when it’s book time in our house. We are a family of readers, and hope that Cheese will be too. We read together at bedtime, a minimum of three books, which are getting longer and more complex as she gets older.

The benefits of reading to your children are well known (I wrote about them in an interview with the amazing Australian author Mem Fox here). When your child is exposed to books it helps them to learn to read, as well as being a special time of day when your child has your full attention. We love books so much that we often read them during the day as well, not just at bedtime. Reading to your child at bedtime has the added benefit of helping kids wind down, ready for sleep.

As well as loving books, Cheese, like all preschoolers, loves her iPad or watching a bit of TV. I definitely try to limit her screen time, but I’m happy for her to watch educational programs or play education games.

I’ve been really excited about a new, locally-produced, interactive storytelling series called “Disney Junior’s The Book of Once Upon A Time”. It’s hosted by an Aussie actor and playwright named Kate Mulvany. Every day at 7:10pm you can tune into the new series on the Disney Junior Channel (it’s on Foxtel, channel 709) or, if you’re like me and don’t get pay TV, watch it anytime on their website.

The second season of “The Book of Once Upon A Time” launched this week (just in time for Book Week!) with one of Cheese’s favourite characters, Snow White in “Snow White and the Great Jewel Hunt”. Upcoming episodes are going to include her BFFs Anna and Elsa in “Frozen”, and stories from “Winnie the Pooh”, “Aladdin” and “Sleeping Beauty”.

Cheese and I are highly enjoying watching the videos together. They are just the perfect length – around 5-8 minutes each – with an engaging storyteller and beautiful graphics. Each story is a new telling of a Disney classic, with a focus on encouraging early language and maths skills, healthy lifestyles and social and emotional development. At the end of each episode, a lullaby plays to encourage children to prepare for bedtime. We have been watching one or two of the videos before bath time, and we finish up our bedtime routine with a few books in bed.

If you’d like to get the Disney stories on your mobile device, they can be downloaded as eBooks from the Disney Story Central app, available from iTunes.

Be sure to tune in to “Disney Junior’s The Book of Once Upon A Time” series two. The premiere episode is Monday 24th August at 7:10pm.

What are you reading to your bunny tonight?

disney junior

The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar, Australian Premiere

Read To Your Bunny Every Night